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Rivalry refuses to be sidelined

By David Hands, Rugby Correspondent

September 10 2005, 1:00am, The Times

CRAIG DOWD first came face to face with Richard Cockerill in the unlikely surroundings of Old Trafford eight years ago. Dowd was a veteran of New Zealand’s front row at loose-head prop, Cockerill the bull-headed newcomer wearing the England No 2 shirt and challenging, in the most direct manner possible, the haka at the start of the first of two internationals against the All Blacks played in the autumn of 1997.

There would be three more such confrontations at the sport’s highest echelon and more of the same at club level when Dowd joined London Wasps in 2001. Now the former forwards lock horns again as they enter the next phase of their careers as coaches. They will be on the touchline at the Causeway…